Friday, April 13, 2007

Gazette: An Anglo for Westmount-Ville-Marie

Old news, I know. But the Montreal Gazette and the National Post published this piece while I was sunning myself on the Mayan Riviera and I think it's worthy of comment.

As we all know, Westmount-Ville-Marie is safe as houses for the LPC - and it just might have something to do with the high percentage of Anglos and English-speaking Allophones living there. MP Rodriguez pointed out earlier this week that LPCQ will be focussing on attracting more francophone and off-Island support. This is good and necessary, but what about rewarding voter loyalty? The LPCQ would be largely dead in the water were it not for Anglo voters, yet Anglo elected representation is almost nil. Unlike in some ridings in the regions outside of Montreal, running an Anglo is Westmount would not negatively affect Liberal numbers. I think the Gazette is bang on in suggesting Montreal Anglo support for the federal Liberals since time immemorial should be rewarded by running a candidate from this underrepresented group. Is it really any wonder that Quebec Anglos feel taken for granted by both the federal and provincial Liberals?